Theory and Method for Media Technology

Sunday, 18 October 2015

Theme 6: Reflections after the Lecture and Seminar

The theme of this week was qualitative methods and case study research. Unfortunately the lecture was canceled, so we only attended to the seminar.

The point of the qualitative methods this week was not to find differences between quantitative and qualitative methods, as we did in a previous theme, but to find and learn about different types of qualitative research, thought the paper that we have selected. So we discussed about them in smaller groups. A question that we discussed all together was if we can use qualitative method when we only have one participant. The number of the participants does not define the type of the method. The type of the data that we gather defines the method. Imagine that there is only one person on earth that has a rare disease. We can make a research on this disease by giving to him different medical treatments every week and analyze the results. It would be better for our research to have more than one participant, but our research will be accepted either way, if there is only one patient with this disease.

With my group we discussed also about the case study research paper that we have selected. We all agreed that the most confusing part of this week was to find a case study paper and use the table 1 from Eisenhardtto research [1] to analyze the weakness and the strengths of the selected paper. We weren’t sure even after we have read the paper if the paper is really a case study research. Also, since there were not any further explanations for the table, it was difficult to understand clearly every step and try to connect it with our paper. Ilias told us that it is not necessary for a research to contain all the parts of the table, and he tried to explain to us some parts of the table by giving examples.

After the seminar I came to a conclusion about case study. A case study is not defined by the method that we use. It doesn’t mean that in a case study research we have to use a specific method. The reason of a case study is to examine and look in depth a particular case that is interesting. Interesting means that this case is unique and different from the other cases. The case study is applied to one particular thing. For instance, a case study of a man that has hit his head in a way that no one did before. The effects of this hit are different from all the other, so a case study on that could help us to learn more about brain. If there are more than one people is not a case study any more.

In addition, a case study is not about confirming a theory. It is about trying to understand and learn what is different about a case and why this case sticks out. For example, a case study on a new and weird fashion that a lot of people follow. We have to make a study on one of those people to understand what is going on and then we can have a qualitative or quantitative research on all of them so we can average and conclude.

Finally, a case study is about something new. That means in this study you are on your own. You are setting an example and a method. You cannot depend on similar studies, since there are not similar studies. A case study could be an idea that you have to examine and see if it will come up with something or not. A great example of that is Gallileo’s theory of solar system.

[1]http://www.jstor.org.focus.lib.kth.se/stable/258557?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

Theme 5: My comments

1.http://dm2572lisa.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-reflection-post.html?showComment=1444849533048#c3650250196019753003

2.http://elindm2572.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-reflection.html?showComment=1444850264770#c235520746857634832

3.http://dm2572rberggre.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-after.html?showComment=1444851567861

4.http://gklo.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-design-research-post-reflection.html?showComment=1444852549308#c1778617554249363436

5.http://tamfmtol.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-post-design-research.html?showComment=1444853355957#c3056655488409835476

6.http://thewind-egg.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-reflection.html?showComment=1444854341659#c224130199197860682

7.http://capitalmyboy.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-post-theme-post.html?showComment=1444855366045#c3940635958433308165

8.http://reb2572.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-design-research_12.html?showComment=1444856255800#c2960654435725062817

9.http://mediafluttery.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-reflection.html?showComment=1444857442258#c3223164926063700860

10.http://mashasthoughts123.blogspot.se/2015/10/theme-5-reflection.html?showComment=1444858549560#c1805489534773923055

Monday, 12 October 2015

Theme 5: Reflections after the Lectures

This week we had to attend to two lectures instead of one lecture and one seminar. The theme of the week was the design research and the prototype and the empirical data. We read the papers “Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball: Rendering Live Football Game Using Vibration” , “Finding design qualities in a tangible programming space” and “Differentiated Driving Range”.

At the first lecture with Haibo Li, we talked about the five steps from having an idea to realize that idea.

1. How to come up with an idea: the definition of the problem is more important than the solution of the problem. We have to define a problem several times in order to find out which the real problem is. Then the solution of that problem it will be easier to be found, the solution of the initial problem. Haibo gave the example of the bear that hunting two people and how the solution to that could be found by define again the problem.
2. How to filter an idea: technical evaluation of our ideas helps us pick the strongest one. As human we see the world we want to see. We see the world from our point of view. By using math we can understand things better in a different dimension.
3. How to validate an idea: in this step we are trying to proof the concept of our idea.
4. How can evaluate: the main part of evaluation is the usability. Usability consists of three parts; effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction. Some ways to evaluate an experiment are the ANOVA technique and the prototypes.
5. How to communicate your idea: this is the most important part in which we have to present our idea to the world. Make clear what our idea is about and present it with the most effective and efficient way.

The second lecture was more informative than the first one. However, the structure of it was a bit confusing, since the subject of the discussion was continuously changing. We talked about research, prototypes, empirical data and design. The main purpose of the research is to gain knowledge. Prototypes doesn’t have to be the solution of the problem, it’s a way that helps giving answers to the research question. We use design to create the right prototype.

Empirical data is part of the process of research. In other words, we have to present our project to people and talk to them, get feedback, analyze the issues and make developments to our project, and then go back again to people. This is a back and forth procedure with which we gather empirical data. That is to say empirical data are the reality. A method to gather empirical data are the interviews. It’s important that after the interviews the data are analyzed otherwise we do not make new knowledge through them. Interviews are not qualitative method if the data are not analyzed.

We spent most of the time trying to explain what design is. As the lecturer said, this is a hard question that he could not answer simple. It’s a question that even him it not sure if he knows the answer. We said that design is a different point of view. It’s a way to reconfigure what is out there in the world, to reconfigure research question and reality into something else. Design is all the steps between the idea and the realization of prototype. It’s a different way from the traditional ones to explore a concept or a scenario. Also, during design a lot of professions are working together in order to help each other understand all the constructors of the problem.

In my opinion it would been better to have a seminar this week, since the seminar always helped me understand even more the subject of each week. In the seminar we could have discussed more about design, since this part is still not so clear to me.